Refrigerator for making and using crushed ice



Sept. 14, 1948. v, LUCIA 2,449,132

REFRIGERATOR FOR MAKING AND USING CRUSHED ICE Filed Sept. 22, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 2 21. jay/c.

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IN V EN TOR.

Sept. 14, 1948. L. V. LUCIA 2,449,132

REFRIGERATOR FOR MAKING AND USING CRUSHED ICE Filed Sept. 22, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Patented Sept. 14, 1948 REFRIGERATOR FOR MAKING AND USING CRUSHED ICE Louis v. Lucia, West mam, Conn. Application September 22, 1944, Serial No. 555,275

This invention relates to a Refrigeration system and more particularly to a system for cooling storage compartments of refrigerators used for the preservation of foods and the like.

It is well known that, when such compartments are cooled by automatic refrigeration using a system of tubes, which in turn are cooled by a refrigerant such as ammonia, freon orthe like. a great deal of dehydration takes place in the foods. This .is particularly true with meats and the like where the dehydration is responsible for a considerable loss in the weight of the meats and their nutritional values.

It is also well known that the most satisfactory and eilicient manner of cooling such refrigerator compartments is by ice, because practically no dehydration can take place in refrigerators that are so cooled, due to the humidity that is supplied by the ice itself, and the melting ice carries awayodors and dirt from the compartment.

An object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a system for cooling a refrigerator compartment with ice that is produced and delivered to said compartment automatically by an ice making device or machine.

A further object of this invention is to provide a refrigerator box having a cooling compartment which is adapted to receive ice from an ice mak ing device.

' A further object is to provide such a box having a cooling compartment which is cooled by ice that is automatically supplied thereto as needed, and a separate compartment for storing surplus quantities of said ice.

A further object is to provide such a refrigerator box having two compartments adapted to contain ice therein and means for automatically controlling the distribution of ice between said compartments.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will be more clearly understood from the following description and from the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view, partly in central vertical section, through a refrigeration box embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a front view thereof on line 2--2 of Fig- Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating my novel refrigeration system with the electric circuits and devices for automatically controlling said system.

As shown in the drawings. the numeral 5 denotes a box, such as usually provided for coms Claimia (Cl. 62-2) 2 monly known refrigerators, which may be of well known construction having walls suitably insulated for high operating efliciency.

In the embodiment illustrated, the said box is preferably provided with a lower compartment 6 having a door I and an upper compartment 8 having a door 9.

Each of said compartments may have shelves ii for suporting foods orarticles to be cooled or preserved therein.

The bottom compartment 6 is provided with a bin, preferably in the form of a basket If which is suspended on hinged brackets l2 by means of a spring ii. The upper compartment 8 is provided with a tray or a basket II which may also be suspended upon springs l5 resting upon the bottom of the compartment 8.

A machine for automatically producing ice, such as fully described in my co-pending application Serial No. 526,724, filed March 16th, 1944, now Patent No. 2,435,285 granted Feb. 3, 1948, is mounted upon the top of the said cabinet, as indicated at I, for producing cakes of ice and supplying them to said cabinet in the manner to be more fully described hereinafter.

As shown, the refrigerator cabinet is provided with a hopper I 'I having a suitable breaker mechanism l8 positioned thereunder and a chute l9 below said mechanism. A deflector 20 is provided at one side of said chute and pivoted, as at 2|, for deflecting ice into the upper compartment I.

It will be noted that the lower compartment is provided with a baflie 22 which aids in circulating the air in the direction of the arrows and past the ice containing bin H as shown in Fig. 1.

As illustrated in Fig. 3, my improved system may include a compressor 23 which is connected in a refrigeration circuit extending from said compressor, through a conductor 30 to the condenser coil 29 which may be cooled by air, by the melted ice, Ila, or by other suitable means, then from said coil, through a conductor 28 to the freezing members 21 of said ice machine. From said members the refrigeration circuit extends through a conductor 26 to a coolin coil 25 or a by-pass BI and, from said coil or by-pass, back to the compressor 23 through the conductor 24. It

will be noted that a container 3| having an overflow pipe 32 may be provided to receive liquid from the ice. as it melts in the bin II, and retain said liquid to aid in cooling the condenser 29 which is immersedtherein.

- The compressor 23 is driven by a motor 33 which also drives the speed reducer 34 for opershaft 35.

3. ating the freezing unit, as fully described in said co-pending application, by means of the A shaft 36 also extends from said speed reducer for driving the breaker mechanism i8. If desired, a controller such as indicated at 31, may be provided for automatically controlling the operation of the freezing unit and refrigeration system by means of a rotor 38 which is driven by a, speed reduction unit 38 that in turn is driven by a motor 48.

When the switch 4| is closed, current will flow through the controller 31 to the motors 33 and 48 through the relays 42 and 43. If desired, a timer, indicated at 44, may be employed for switching the mechanism into an oil-peak supply of current for the purpose of economy in the opera;- tion of the system.

The operation of my improved refrigerating system is as follows:

The ice is formed in the automatic machine indicated at it in the form of cakes or plates as indicated at 48. The said plates are released from the machine, as fully described in the above mentioned co-pending application, and delivered therefrom into the hopper l1. As they enter said hopper, they are received by the breaker mechanism l8 and broken up thereby into small pieces. The pieces of ice will then pass downwardly through the chute l9 and into the bin or basket ll. When the said basket has been filled with ice to a predetermined weight, the spring l3, extending under saidweight, will cause operation of the deflector 28 to the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 3, so that subsequent pieces of ice will be deflected from the chute into the basket 14.

When both the said bin II and basket M are filled to capacity, they will operate to open the switches 41 and 48 to thereby stop further production of ice by the machine 18. When either the basket M or the bin l I call for ice, the circuit will be closed by either the switch 41 or the switch 48 and production of ice by the machine IE will again be resumed.

In order to maintain the compartment 8 at a much cooler temperature than the compartment 6, so that it may be used as a freezing compartment, I prefer to locate the coil 25 therein. Thus, the ice in the tray l4 will be prevented from rapid melting and, at the same time, the said ice will act to prevent dehydration within said compartment 8 while it is being stored therein for subsequent removal upon being needed for serving.

As the ice in the bin I l melts, the liquid therefrom will pass through the drain tube 49 into the container 3|, 3la, and out of said container through the drain pipe 32.

Referring more in detail to Fig. 3, the electrical circuits shown operate in the following manner.

The switch 4| connects the refrigerator to the power circuit in the building. The current is conducted from the junction points a and w to junction points b and 11. which lead the current to the switch terminals 8 and q. When switch 43 is closed, these make contact with points t and p, leading current to the binding 4 trical circuit. The other side, n, is connected to the junction point 2-, which has a further 3-way connection thereto.

As shown in said Fig. 3 the ice basket II is full and there is no contact from the a side of the line and the pivot point e of switch 41 with either the "satisfactory contact I or the "low contact a. If the contact a were in direct connection with the "low contact 9, as when the quantity of ice in basket ii is at an unsatisfactory low level, and it is desired-to make ice regardless of the time of def current flows from the a side of the line through e, g, z, n, 0, v, and w, thus closing the/switch 43 and starting the rotation of cycle contact drum 38-and, in consequence, the ice producing cycle. satisfactory amount of ice in basket II, the contact e will be in contact with f and the current will flow through the timer 44 by way of the conductors j-l. Since said timer is arranged to close the circuit only in ofi-peak hours and consequently at a. lower electrical rate, this circuit will be completed only when the electrical rate is favorable and the current will flow through m, z, n, o, v, and w to start the ice-making cycle. During other hours of the day, the timer 44 will interrupt the circuit and prevent ice-makingfor refilling basket I l until it gets to a "low" level.

If, at any time, however, the supply of ice, for use as such, is low in the tray or basket l4, switch 48 is closed with a. snap action making a circuit from the a side of the line through junction point d, pivot i, contact h, junction 2, and n, 0, v, and w, back to the line. This closes switch 43 and starts the ice-making cycle. If, at the completion of the cycle, basket i4 is adequately filled, the ice-making cycle' will stop. If, however, the supply in i4 is still inadequate, the cycle will be repeated until the contact between-i and h is broken.

Thus it will be seen that the supply of either basket II or tray M will control the operation of the ice-making machine 21 to automatically replenish the supply of ice and, in the case of basket II, the main-supply of ice will be replenished mainly in off-peak" times in order to utilize the low electrical rates.

It will be noted that once an ice-making cycle is started, current from the w side of the line will pass through the circuit 1:, o, n, p, z, a, b',

e to k on the a side of the line so that, until posts a: and y ofthe motor 48. The motor 48 then 1 this switch coil is connected permanently to the junction point 1; on one side of the main elecdrum 38 has completed a turn, which is willcient tocomplete one ice-making cycle, the circuit through the holding coil switch 43 will remain complete and cannot be interrupted by.

breaking of the circuit in either switch 41 or switch 48.

When the cycle contact drum 38 has started its rotation, current will flow from the a side of the line through k, e', b, c, .f', m, to p, which is one terminal of motor 33 that actuates both the compressor 23 and the gear box 34. The other terminal 0' of motor 33, returns the current through a" to the w side of the line. Thus as long as drum 38 is in rotation, motor 33 will remain in operation. The gear box 34, which actuates both the releasing of ice cake 46 and the operation of crushing rollers I8, is actuated by current from contact are d through g, h, i, and 7" back to the If,v however, there is a ice in and dry prior to its release from the ice-making machine 21.

Water is replenished to the ice-making machine from a nozzle and measuring device fed by a water supply s indicated respectively at 50, and 52. These may 'be of any suitable type.

It will further be noted that the expanded vapor from the ice-making machine 21 passes through pipe 26 and coil 25 before returning to the compressor by-way of pipe 24. If the thermostat 53 indicates that the temperature in the freezing compartment is adequately low, the valve solenoid 54 opens the by-pass valve 55, which is normally closed, and permits the cold gasses to pass through by-pass 56 instead of through coil 25. This prevents the freezing compartment from reaching too low a temperature. The thermostat circuit is controlled by current from the a side of the line through k, u, t, and either r or s, depending upon the temperature, 1), w, and back to the to side of the line. Completion of this circuit will by-pass the cold gasses around the freezing compartment coil 25. If, however, the thermostat is closed on the circuit t'-r' by too warm a condition in the freezing compartment, the current will flow through a, n, i, and back to the w side of the line. This closes switch 42 to the terminal of motor 33, starting the compressor in order to obtain additional refrigeration in coil 25.

Although the refrigerant may pass through the ice-making machine21 and cool the water therein, should a solid. cake of ice 46 be therein no harm will result and evaporation will not takeplace to any material extent. However, the evaporation normally takes place in the receiver 51 it not in the machine 21 so that liquid refrigerant will not pass over to the compressor. When a predetermined satisfactory" condition has been achieved in the freezing compartment, the contact between t and r is broken, thus stopping thelcompressor 23 and shutting ofl the cooling cyc e.

From the above, it will be clearly understood that I have provided a novel automatic refrigeration system for cooling a refrigerator box by means of ice which is produced automatically by 6 said cabinet, means in said storage compartment for receiving ice from said chute, and means in said chute responsive to the quantity of ice in said compartments for deflecting the ice from said chute.

2. In a refrigerating system, a cabinet having a storage compartment and a cooling compartment, a chute leading from the top of said cabinet to one of said compartments, means for deflecting ice from said chute to the other compartment, a machine for producing ice located in the upper portion of said cabinet and adapted to deliver ice therefrom into said chute, the said deflecting means being responsive to the weight of ice in one of said compartments for directing the supply of ice through said chute.

3. In arefrigerating system, the combination of a cabinet having -a plurality of compartments therein, a breaker mechanism, containers in said compartments for containing broken ice, means for producing pieces of ice and delivering same to said containers through said-breaker mechanism, and switching means responsive to the weight of ice in said containers for controlling the distribution of broken ice into said compartments after its passage through said breaker mechanism.

4. In a refrigerator comprising a cabinet having a plurality of compartments therein. mechanism for producing pieces of ice located upon the top of said cabinet and adapted to deliver said pieces through an opening therein, means for automatically directing said ice into one of said compartments when a predetermined amount of ice is contained within another compartment,

and a breaker mechanism for breaking said pieces a machine that is closely associated with said refrigerator. My improved system will therefore eliminate the common and serious objections to automatic refrigeration, which are due to the causing of dehydration and the retention of odors and dirt by foods while, at the same time, aflordlog all of the advantages of fully automatic refrig'eration plus an emergency supplyoi' ice which will prevent food spoilage even it the electric power supply should be cut oil for several days.

I claim:

1. In a'rei'rigerating system, the combination of a cabinet having a storage compartment and a cooling compartment therein. an electrically operated machine for producing ice positioned above said cabinet and adapted to deliver pieces of ice through an opening in the top of said cabinet. a chute extending downwardly within of ice before reaching said distributing means.

5. In a refrigerating system, the combination of means for producing ice including a compressor, a cabinet having a compartment therein,

means for delivering ice from said ice producing means to said compartment for cooling the compartment, a sump at a level below said compartment for receiving the liquid from ice melting therein, and a pipe connection to said compressor including a cooling coil located within said sump for cooling the material passing through said pipe connection.

LOUIS V. LUCIA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the iile of this patent: a i

v UNITED s'ra'rns m'rnu'rs Number assa'zao 

